Mike Semel is the President and Chief Security Officer of Semel Consulting, focused on HIPAA (and other regulatory) compliance and Business Continuity planning. Mike is a Certified Business Continuity Professional through the Disaster Recovery Institute, a Certified HIPAA Professional, Certified HIPAA Administrator, Certified Security Compliance Specialist, and Certified Health IT Specialist. He wrote the Certified HIPAA Security Professional course that qualifies for health care continuing education units. He has owned or managed technology companies for over 30 years; served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a Critical Access hospital; and managed operations at an online backup company.

Mike was on the development team for the CompTIA Security Trustmark, co-wrote its Quick Reference Guide, and coaches businesses who are working to achieve the security accreditation. He chaired CompTIA’s IT Security Community from 2010 - 2012, is an active member of the FBI’s Infragard program, and is a Resident Expert on Security, Healthcare, and Business Continuity for the ASCII Group.  Mike has authored a HIPAA training course for EMR Approved, and has had numerous articles published in magazines and on websites.

Mike has created Business Continuity plans for small businesses, healthcare organizations, and financial institutions, including a $ 4 billion federal credit union with 180,000 members. His business continuity plans meet regulatory requirements and have helped businesses survive the Joplin tornado, Hurricane Irene, SuperStorm Sandy, and many smaller disruptions.  His business continuity plans have passed FFIEC and NCUA compliance reviews.

He has managed numerous HIPAA and regulatory compliance assessments, and Meaningful Use Security Risk Analyses, for doctors, hospitals, labs, and government agencies.  His remediation programs have also passed the scrutiny of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO.)

Mike has been a hospital IT Director, Emergency Medical Technician; fire department rescue captain; has taught Hazardous Materials incident management at the New York State Fire Academy; and spent 14 years managing  Red Cross Disaster Services at the state and local level. He was Safety Director at the Watkins Glen International auto race track, and traveled with the IndyCar Safety Team for 19 years.

Testimonials (references on request)

"Even though I serve both as the county IT director and the HIPAA Security Officer, I would not have been able to identify some of the issues you uncovered. As an outside organization you were able to gather information objectively, and offer a perspective I could not have gotten using internal resources. Your certifications in HIPAA and Security enabled you to ask the right questions, and relate your findings directly to the HIPAA rules."

Ken Peaslee, Director, Information Technology

County of Steuben, NY

During my tenure as the CEO of Schuyler Hospital I hired Mike in a consulting capacity to be the CIO. Over a two year time frame Mike was able to help us bring the hospital's IT infrastructure up to date. In addition he brought us into HIPAA compliance. IT down time was reduced to zero and IT operating costs were reduced by 30%. Mike is a true IT expert and I recommend him without reservation to anyone in need of IT assistance and/or regulatory compliance.

Donald Lewis

Senior Manager of Rural Health Care

Universal Service Administrative Company

Mike was hired to help educate our community of IT providers on both compliance and security issues surrounding HIPAA. Beyond the working knowledge that Mike has obtained over the years, his ability to connect to our audience by wrapping his unique personality and humor into the conversation made it all work that much more.

Jerry Koutavas, President, ASCII Group

Contact:   Mike Semel   mike@semelconsulting.com      800-997-3635 x101 office     (702) 275-9595 mobile